book for PDF - John Snow International Europe

Hand-pick pestsEach morning collect pests in a bucket part-filled with water. Coveryour hands in plastic to avoid being stung by insects. Swarms can beremoved by brushing plants with a soft broom. Feed them to thechickens. If pests are too small to pick, squash them on the side of theplant. The smell repels other insects.BarriersSmear stems or trunks of plants with a ring ofcooking oil or Vaseline to prevent insectsfrom reaching the juicy tips.Protect young plants from caterpillars, miceand grasshoppers using old plastic containersor tin cans with the base cut out. Press thecontainer a few centimetres into the soil toprevent cutworms.Mix sawdust and a sticky substance such asmolasses, syrup or tree resin and sugar. Thesweet smell attracts cutworms, which then getstuck in the mixture.PowdersDust leaves with dry clay, lime, flour, chalkand rock dust to kill aphids, mites, andwhitefly. Lime dust kills loopers, slugs andsmall beetles. Spread dust around the base ofplants to repel most crawling pests.Home-made spraysIf the above methods have failed you can make your own sprays.Dishwasher or soap sprays are also effective on their own. Most pestsare so delicate that water from a hosepipe will kill them.66